Frozen product machines, such as frozen carbonated beverage (FCB) machines, utilize a freezing cylinder or freeze barrel for producing a slush beverage for frozen food product. An evaporator coil is wrapped around the exterior of the barrel for cooling the contents thereof. A beater bar and scraper assembly extends along the central axis of the barrel and is rotated by a motor to scrape thin iced or frozen layers of the beverage or food product from the inner surface of the barrel for dispensing to customers.
Typically, the beater bar and scraper assemblies of frozen product machines are rotated by a motor at a fixed rotational speed. Normally, the fixed rotational speed is set to accommodate the highest drink frozen food product or draw rate demand. This leaves the beater bar and scraper assembly rotating faster than necessary for other and lower frozen product demand levels that do not require a high speed of rotation. Among the disadvantages of operating the beater bar and scraper assembly continuously at the highest required speed is that for much of the time, when drink draw rates are below maximum, more power is required to operate the drive motor than would be required at a lower speed of the motor, there is increased wear of mechanical parts, and when the motor is located within the freeze barrel, more heat is generated by and transferred from the motor to the inside of the barrel, resulting in increased freeze barrel cooling requirements and inconsistencies in product quality.